August Reviews

  August Reviews 

August 1st-31st

Had a pretty great reading month in August. I read 9 books during the month and had 4 five star reads. 

Book 73: After Oz

By Gordon McAlpine

Read August 1st-2nd

Pages: 240

Release Year: 2024

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A dark take on what happens with Dorothy after she returns to Kansas from Oz. I’m always interested when I see a book that deals with the land of Oz and had to read this thriller as soon as I heard of it. The audiobook version was narrated by Maria Ru-Djen. She did a great job with this story. 

It is set in the late 1890s and is told from two perspectives. The first is one of the townspeople who is highly religious and holds a lot of prejudices. They are an unknown resident of the town who illustrates the viewpoints of most of the residents. It was oftentimes irritating to listen to what they were saying and brought down the story a bit for me. I know exactly what they were in the story for but it still made it less enjoyable of an experience. The second perspective in the book is Dr. Evelyn Grace Wilford, who is a psychologist trying to solve Dorothy’s innocence. 

When Dorothy returns to Kansas from Oz, she begins to tell of her adventures there and also of its magical inhabitants. These stories worry the people in her town who believe she is at first delusional and then as the story goes on diabolical. When the body of a local woman, Alvina is found, they think Dorothy is the murderer because of her description of killing the Wicked Witch of the West in Oz. She is sent to an asylum. Evelyn Wilford goes to the asylum to interview Dorothy and sees a little girl who she does not believe could murder anyone. Evelyn decides to go to the town and see if she can solve what really happened. 

Don’t go into this book thinking you will see any of Oz, that is not what this story is about. Dorothy does go into some details about her friends and some of what she does in Oz, but not much. The story’s focus is on the prejudices and religious beliefs of Dorothy’s town and on the murder mystery. Dorothy is not in the book as much as I thought she would be either. She is obviously very important in the plot, but we see more of the townspeople and Evelyn than Dorothy. It did have me wanting to find out who murdered Alvina. The twists surprised me a lot. 

I’m always intrigued by continuations of classic stories. I think it was interesting how Gordon decided to take this in a very different direction. Though, it was disappointing to not get more of Oz or at least Dorothy. You don’t go into a Oz retelling/continuation thinking you won’t get at least some of the characters or the world.  

*Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my ARC of this book. All opinions are my own.

Book 74: A Sorceress Comes to Call 

By T. Kingfisher

Read August 5th

Pages: 336

Release Year: 2024 

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T. Kingfisher is slowly becoming one of my favorite authors and is definitely one of the best I have found at writing dark fairy tale retellings. She does an incredible job twisting stories into her own. You may know the "Goose Girl" fairy tale going in but that doesn't mean you'll know what will happen here. I didn't want to stop listening to this book once I started. It was great in every single aspect.

The story follows both Cordelia and Hester. Cordelia is a fourteen-year-old who has been tortured by her mother her entire life. Her mother, Evangeline, is a sorceress who is used to getting what she wants and even takes control of her daughter's actions at times. Evangeline has decided she wants to get married to a wealthy man so that she can have a great fortune and get her daughter married too. She will do anything to get what she wants.

Hester is the intelligent sister of the Squire, whom Evangeline wants to marry. She sees right through Evangeline and knows she has to find a way to stop Evangeline from marrying her brother. Hester also wants to help Cordelia, whom she grows fond of.

I loved following both perspectives, but especially Hester. This is quite a dark story, but I loved the humor throughout. Most of this humor came from Hester's narration. She was so funny, along with many of her friends. I was surprised by how many times this had me laughing out loud. The wit of these characters is just top-notch. Also, her romance with one of the other characters was so sweet. I'm a sucker for a story like theirs. 

Cordelia is a timid girl who is afraid of everything around her because of how her mother has treated her. It is hard to listen to this abuse, but it makes Cordelia's growth all the better. We watch her grow throughout the book with the love of her friends.

There is nothing I could say bad about this book other than the fact that I did not want it to end. Every character was so well fleshed out and came alive in the story. I also loved the side characters we had, such as Alice, Penelope, Imogene, Richard, and Wilfred. 

I'm thankful I requested the audiobook ARC from NetGalley because it was perfect. Both narrators did a wonderful job creating each of the characters' voices and an eerie feeling with their narration. I highly recommend it. I'll definitely be adding this to my collection and will pick up anything T. Kingfisher writes. She has such a unique voice and is a talented author.

*Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my ARC of this book. All opinions are my own.

Book 75: The Search for the Red Dragon 

(The Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica #2) 

By James A. Owen

Read August 6th-9th

Pages: 384

Release Year: 2008

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An interesting continuation of The Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica series. It combines many fantasy, mythology, and folklore characters into this story with many famous authors. I love when a story brings authors and their characters together and gives a fictional account of where they got their inspiration for their stories. My favorite aspects of this novel are the ones dealing with Peter Pan. I will not spoil any of that here but I love what they did with his character.

Book 76: The Black Bull of Norroway

By Cat Seaton & Kit Seaton 

Read August 20th

Pages: 224

Release Year: 2018

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Reread August 20th- 

This is such a beautifully illustrated graphic novel. I am very interested in reading the next volume after all these years.

Review October 26th, 2019- 

A very interesting fairy tale. I really enjoyed this story and also the art style. This was one of the prettiest graphic novels that I have ever read. It's absolutely amazing.

Book 77: The Queen on the High Mountain

By Cat Seaton & Kit Seaton

Read August 20th-21st 

Pages: 232

Release Year: 2021

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I enjoyed the first volume quite a bit, but this one lags too much. We get a time jump from the first story and nothing really seems to be accomplished with this one. It again ends on a cliffhanger and I will not be picking up the next if it ever comes out. I don’t like the characters or the story enough to want to know what happens at this point.

Book 78: Mythos: The Illustrated Edition 

By Stephen Fry

Read August 21st-24th

Pages: 512

Release Year: 2024

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This is the second time I have read this book. I adore Stephen Fry’s retellings of the stories of the Greek Gods and loved this edition with the illustrations. They made it even more enjoyable.

Stephen takes the stories of the Greek Gods that we have heard before and adds his own flare to them. Most of the stories focus on the divinity, along with some tales of the mortals who are affected by the gods and goddesses. 

I highly recommend listening to the audiobook, which Stephen reads himself. He is an incredible narrator and I’ll never get enough of his narration. The illustrated edition of this book is absolutely beautiful! The illustrations fit so well with the tales and make an incredible edition. Perfect for collectors out there. I’m sure it will be even more beautiful physically. 

*Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for my ARC of the illustrated edition of this wonderful book. I highly recommend picking it up for fans of the original and Greek Mythology as a whole.

Book 79: Floriography: An Illustrated Guide to the Victorian Language of Flowers

By Jessica Roux

Read August 26th

Pages: 213

Release Year: 2020

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I bought this book to research for a book I am writing and throughly enjoyed it. Flower Language is one of the most interesting parts of Victorian history that I have found out about more recently. For each flower you get a stunning illustration, the meaning of the flower, the origin of the meaning, and other flowers to pair it with to gain even more meaning. I adore the design of this book and found out a lot about the flowers.

Book 80: The Indigo King

(The Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica #3)

By James A. Owen 

Read August 26th-27th

Pages: 375

Release Year: 2008

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Each of these books keeps getting better in this series. I love the world that James has created with the   Archipelago and I just want to keep seeing more of it. This has so many aspects I love in literature with time travel, Greek Mythology, and King Arthur. Also, we finally find out who the Cartographer is and that was very interesting. I want to reread the first two books in this series because of this book, especially to see the scenes with the Cartographer.

Book 81: Before the Ever After

By Jacqueline Woodson

Read August 28th

Pages: 176

Release Year: 2020

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One of the most beautifully heartbreaking books I have read in quite a long time. I love how this book was written in ZJ’s voice, through verse. There are so many lines that stood out, especially from ZJ’s daddy. Not only was this book heartbreaking, but it was also heartwarming. 

I adored how supportive ZJ’s parents were of his aspirations to become a musician. In a lot of stories where one of the parents is an athlete, they push their children to also go in that direction. That never happens in this book even before ZJ’s daddy starts to show signs of CTE. 

I highly recommend listening to the audiobook. Guy Lockard does an incredible job creating ZJ’s voice and giving emotion to such a hard subject. This had me in tears multiple times.